By Tom Breihan on October 7, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Just like practically every new indie band this year, the Brooklyn-via-Florida group the Drums love evoking summertime. But the Drums don't do it with hazy synthetic textures or woozy atmosphere. Instead, they make fast, fun, uptight two-minute pop songs about making out or-- more often--not making out. Tracks like "Saddest Summer" or the BNMed"I Felt Stupid" might be all about romantic frustration and longing, but they don't sound the slightest bit bummed or unsatisfied. Instead, the band nervily kicks out their classic hooks with loopy ADD joy, sounding like they can't wait to get to the next song.

Summertime!, the band's debut EP, is out now via TwentySeven, and they're currently at work on their first full-length. Pitchfork recently caught up with frontman Jonathan Pierce.

By Tom Breihan on October 1, 2009 at 5:45 p.m. EDT

Gary, Indiana's Freddie Gibbs has one of the best voices in rap, a bruised, guttural growl that radiates toughness but also emotion. And Gibbs knows just how to use it: accelerating into double-time speed-raps, crooning low-down choruses, slowly and pointedly telling matter-of-fact stories about smuggling weed in from Canada. So far this year, Gibbs has released two mixtapes, The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs andMidwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik. But with no invasive DJ drops or beat-of-the-moment freestyles, both tapes sound more like albums mixes, comprised as they are of actual songs. And both of them belong on a short list of the best rap albums we've heard this year.

Pitchfork caught up with Gibbs as he recovered from a show the night before in Los Angeles, his new home base.

By Ryan Dombal on September 25, 2009 at 5:15 p.m. EDT

Photo by Jennifer Becker

Orlando amusement park Universal Studios Florida opened on June 7, 1990. It seems like everyone born after 1980 or so has a strong memory of the place-- whether it's the famed Jaws ride or getting slimed at Nickelodeon Studios. Seattle duo Universal Studios Florida are indirectly trying to take advantage of those bursts of nostalgia with their debut album, Oceans Sunbirds, released over the summer on Little Fury Things. The LP is enveloped in a blissed-out, near-tropical haze of echoing vocals, shimmering guitars, and bright beats-- if Animal Collective remixed the theme song to "Double Dare", it might sound something like this.

Twenty-one year old University of Washington students Jason Baxter and Kyle Hargus bonded in college over their love of Brian Eno, Led Zeppelin, and apocalyptic comic books. In the following interview, the creative writing majors talk about their sudden-even-for-the-Internet discovery story, the game show "Legends of the Hidden Temple", and why they didn't call themselves Disney World:

By Ryan Dombal on September 16, 2009 at 10:45 a.m. EDT

Teengirl Fantasy make dream music. With a beat. On the surface, their song "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" is a remix of the much-covered 1978 hit. But it doesn't just put new drums behind what we already know. The revamp references its source with barely-there samples that seem to be fighting against interference. Because "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" is one of those songs that everyone knows, even if they don't know why or where they first heard it. Teengirl Fantasy know this, too, and their glazed compositions explore such unconscious nostalgia with eyes half-open. (Arguably more impressive, their live sets have been known to get Brooklyn indie rock kids moving with some semblance of rhythm.)

The duo is made up of Oberlin College students Logan Takahashi and Nick Weiss, who are currently studying abroad at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. They've got a few small releases to their name thus far-- including a Telepathe remix, the downloadable TGIF EP and "Hollywood Hills" single on Dick Move and the "Portofino" 7" on Merok-- and are currently 9 demos deep into their debut LP, which will be released next year on True Panther/Merok. We recently phoned the pair in the Netherlands to chat about the red light district, Mariah Carey, and nosy dentists:

By Ryan Dombal on September 11, 2009 at 4:55 p.m. EDT

Gold Panda is a 28-year-old London fellow named Derwin. ("I just call myself Derwin Panda for the moment," he says.) He caught our attention recently with the striking "Quitter's Raga", a chopped-up burst of samples and clicks that beats Four Tet at his own game. If there's anything wrong with the track, it's the brief, two-minute run time-- "so short it breaks your heart," wrote our own Mark Richardson.

Luckily, there's more where that came from. Along with remixes for Bloc Party, Little Boots, and Telepathe (which you can stream here), Derwin has three records out now: the six-track Before EP, the Various Production-backed Miyamae EP, and the "Quitter's Raga" single. Listening to the mixes and originals, Gold Panda's startling range becomes clear-- from somber, sample-based elegies to twitchy techno to hissy, Dilla-style hip-hop, all of his compositions manage a second-hand intimacy that's difficult to come by. We recently called him up at his London flat to chat about sex shops, samples, and shitty bosses:

Dâm's specialty lies in 80s-style analog fizziness once spearheaded by the likes of Roger Troutman and Prince. His grooves are thick and synth-y and beatifically mid-tempo; they conjure champagne glasses clinking in soft focus or day-glo block parties filled with boomboxes and barbecue.

After spending time sitting in as a session keyboardist for hip-hop acts like Westside Connection, Dâm-Funk is ready to add his own sound to the electro-funk canon with his Stones Throw debut, Toeachizown. True to his uncompromising vision, the album is being released as a five-LP (and double CD) set October 27-- the first three parts are currently available to purchase as MP3s at Stones Throw's website.

As I learned during a recent chat with the man, Dâm-Funk is very serious about his very fun music. He can reel off obscure 80s B-sides with ease while dropping references to Ariel Pink and George Clinton in the same breath. In the interview, we talked about taking funk to the next level, R. Kelly, and UFOs:

By Tom Breihan on September 3, 2009 at 3:50 p.m. EDT

Tanlines is a Brooklyn-based production duo made up of two guys who used to be in bands you might know: Jesse Cohen from Professor Murder and Eric Emm from Don Caballero and Storm and Stress. Tanlines traffic in a hazy, organic, sundazed take on dance music, based as much on bongo ripples and springy tropical guitars as synth riffs or bass kicks. In the YouTube videos they've made for almost every one of their tracks (which you can hear on MySpace), they set chopped-up found footage to their songs, so it looks like pop culture detritus is dancing right along with them.

Cohen and Emm have done remixes for people like the Tough Alliance, El Guincho, and Telepathe. They released a single on Young Turks, and they're currently recording their debut EP for True Panther. Pitchfork recently spoke with Cohen about the duo's beginnings and future plans.

By Tom Breihan on September 1, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. EDT

Washed Out is Ernest Greene, a young guy from Georgia (via South Carolina) who makes bedroom synthpop that sounds blurred and woozily evocative, like someone smeared Vaseline all over an early OMD demo tape, then stayed up all night trying to recreate what they heard. To hear Greene tell it, he's only been making music as Washed Out for a couple of months. But he's already generated attention thanks to gorgeous tracks like "You'll See It" and the BNM'ed"Feel It All Around".

By Ryan Dombal on August 27, 2009 at 9:40 a.m. EDT

Photo by Owen Richards

On the heels of their just-released UK debut LP, xx, this band of four London 20-year-olds is currently getting the type of hopped-up British press that makes savvy music fans raise an eyebrow in disbelief. (The record is out now in the U.S. via iTunes and hits North American shores in CD and LP form October 20 via XL.)

But, unlike many of their Next Big Thing ilk, the xx aren't another Britpop nostalgia band or synth-flavored act in a shiny top. Their music is as understated as the lowercase letters that make up their name. Centered around the soothing, wounded voices of co-leads Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft, xx offers a wholly realized sonic aesthetic that lies somewhere between pop, soul, and indie; between Hot Chip, Sade, and Young Marble Giants.

It's an impressively mature bow, especially considering three of the four members still live with their parents. After starting out while at London's Elliott School (which was also home to Hot Chip and Burial), the group was noticed by UK label Young Turks, who allowed the band to suss out their haunting sound over a two year period instead of going for another overnight MySpace cash in. By all accounts, the patience paid off. We recently spoke with Sim about his band's rise, working with Diplo, and watching BeyoncĂŠ fly:

By Tom Breihan on August 25, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

The L.A. band Fool's Gold is built around two frontmen, Luke Top and Lewis Pesacov. Pesacov also plays in Foreign Born, and the loosely structured band sometimes includes musicians who have played with We Are Scientists and the Fall. Looking at those names, you'd expect Fool's Gold to be something very different from what they are. Fool's Gold isn't an indie rock band at all. Unlike, say, Vampire Weekend or High Places, they don't play American music with an Afropop influence. Rather, it's Afropop with a slight American influence.

Fool's Gold's self-titled debut, due September 29 from IAMSOUND, is just as liquid and joyous as the records that inspire the band. The Israel-born Top sings in Hebrew more often than English, and for those of us who don't understand the language, it's got the same impenetrable, otherworldly ring as the Afropop that the band loves. Top claims that the band started out playing barbecues and backyard parties. The band's music is as sunny as those locations would suggest.

Pitchfork recently caught up with Top to talk about the band's stew of influences, their experiences playing parks without permits, and their place in indie's current wave of Afropop-cribbing bands.